Get Flash Player

英文字幕：

This athlete is getting ready to fly.

From zero to almost 40km/h in less than 10 seconds! THIS is power.

Hi, I'm Dr Greg Wells. Olympic sprinters are truly unique athletes. To win the sprint, they morph their muscles to attain superhuman speed. We all have two kinds of muscle fibres: Slow Twitch fibres give you endurance for that light morning jog. And Fast Twitch fibres give you short bursts of intense energy. You and I have equal amounts of both. But Olympic sprinters turn their muscles into 80% Fast Twitch fibres. Fast Twitch fibres burn energy four times quicker than Slow Twitch.

Here's another reason. Olympic sprinters can hit those speeds: Neurotransmitters. They shoot signals across nerve synapses, telling our muscles to run fast. Sprinters train their bodies to increase the number of neurotransmitters which then broadcast more signals to the muscle.

Another challenge for sprinters? To spark all those fibres at once. This is critical, because of the less than 10 seconds that it takes to run the 100 metres, they're only in contact with the ground for less than four! So for most of the race, they're soaring in mid-air...literally flying down the track! Muscle thunder...and nervous lightning. For Olympic sprinters, it's a perfect storm.

中文字幕：

這位選手正蓄勢待發。

不到十秒鐘，跑速已從零提高到40公里每小時。這就是力量。

我是維爾斯博士。奧運短跑選手是很獨特的運動員。為達到超人般的速度、贏得最后的勝利，他們重塑了肌肉。人體包含兩種肌肉纖維：慢縮肌纖維讓您在晨跑中保持耐力；而快縮肌纖維為您提供強大的瞬間力量。兩者在我們的體內比例是相同的。但奧運短跑選手的肌肉發生了轉化，其中80%的肌肉是快縮肌纖維?？炜s肌纖維消耗能量的速度比慢縮肌纖維快四倍。

奧運短跑選手之所以能跑得如此之快的另一個原因在于神經遞質。遞質在神經突觸之間傳遞訊號，通知肌肉跑快一點。短跑選手通過訓練增加神經遞質，將更多訊號傳送到肌肉。

選手還遭遇哪些挑戰呢？如何同時觸發所有的肌肉纖維，這十分關鍵。因為在百米賽跑的不到十秒鐘內，雙腳著地的時間不到四秒，他們大部分時間都在空中，簡直是在賽道飛翔。肌肉如雷鳴，神經如閃電。這些對于短跑運動員來說是最重要的。

相關閱讀

耶魯大學宣傳片《我為什么選擇耶魯》（視頻）

普林斯頓大學2012畢業典禮Michael Lewis演講

英女王發表登基六十周年演講

馬克?扎克伯格演講：成功沒有捷徑(視頻)

（Video provided by GE 編輯：Julie）